Board members for the CAP Arena were hoping to see Town of St. Paul council waive green fees for a fundraising tournament for the arena, a request which council considered at its July 25 meeting.
Coun. Ken Kwiatkowski said he felt that the town had already supported the CAP Arena by providing town equipment to remove concrete and rebuild the arena’s exterior.
“We have given a big donation to them already,” added Coun. Norm Noel, noting the town had budgeted about $140,000 to replace the roof on the aging building.
The other issue was a lack of familiarity with where the golf course stood and how revenues and expenses would play out, council agreed.
“We don’t really know the ins and outs of the golf course yet,” said Coun. Edna Gervais, adding before knowing more about the costs of running a golf course, the town shouldn’t be offering breaks to the CAP Arena, or the other groups that use the course to host fundraisers. “We’d be setting a precedent.”
Council passed a motion not to waive the fees for the 2016 tourney, but noted the decision could be revisited in the future.
A UFO art piece that town council had originally agreed was worth purchasing came at too steep a price at $2,000, mayor and council decided at their July 25 council meeting, and so, the aliens will have to find another home.
At their previous meeting, Coun. Judy Bogdan had suggested council purchase the sculpture from a local business for $1,500, with councilors expressing interest and passing a motion to purchase what Coun. Dwight Wiebe described as “very unique” art. The 5 x 4 sculpture that stands as tall as three feet was originally made for The Keg in Calgary, before its journey to a liquidation outlet and then to St. Paul.
After agreeing to purchase the UFO for $1,500, council later understood the offer to purchase the piece was actually for $2,000, as another business was willing to pay that amount for it.
In order to make the decision to pay an extra $500, Coun. Dwight Wiebe said he had gone to take a closer look at the sculpture and decided with “what has to be done” and taking into account safety issues, he didn’t feel it was a good idea to purchase the piece.
Each councillor weighed in, opting out of paying the higher price, with Coun. Norm Noel opining, “For the price it’s at now, no.”
While St. Paul has a Canada 150 committee dedicated to coming up with the celebrations for the country’s 150th birthday next year, the Town of St. Paul decided it should have its own working group to plan for the event.
Council discussed the fact that the town has allocated up to $150,000 over two years but will have to decide what funds will be spent and how to spend them.
Mayor Glenn Andersen said that the Canada 150 group is focusing on holding events and projects through the year, but said he felt the town should be making sure there are events going on in the week leading up to Canada Day and the day itself.
“It’s very clear that we’ll do our own thing and plan,” he said.
Linda Sallstrom, executive director of the St. Paul & District Chamber of Commerce and head of the Canada 150 committee, said that so far, the committee has established it will be holding a gala, a school project and a time capsule as well as having historical projects. However, she said the town has always hosted the Canada Day festivities and should continue to plan that piece, along with the 50th anniversary celebrations for the UFO landing pad.
“We want to work with them . . . our intention was not to come in and take over,” she said.
